When Worlds Collide
by AstraGalactic
Summary: The Andromeda's Captain makes a wish, but when he gets it will it destroy them all?  Please R
1. Chapter 1

Title: When Worlds Collide

Author: AstraGalactic

Disclaimer: Andromeda is not mine. If it was, Gaheris would be alive, and Dylan would be with Rommie. Atlanta is mine.

Setting/Season: TUM AU (Trance did not switch places with her gold-self, and the Andromeda has a new engineer)

Summary: The Andromeda's Captain makes a wish, but when he gets it will it destroy them all?

A/N: My thanks to other writers who have inspired me, Please R&R!

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Gaheris stood on the OBS deck looking out at the stars, lost in his pain and loneliness. There was only one other person onboard the giant ship and it was quiet - too quiet. It had been a year since Harper had left, and presently the rest of his crew save for Atlanta was down on Infinity Atoll to visit Harper for a month…. even Tyr.

Gaheris sighed, the depth of his grief intensifying as he realized that for all that he could not trust the man, he envied Tyr in one way - only one.

Tyr was clearly fond of Harper – even enough that he had risked his life for the small human. It was not what Dylan and Gaheris had shared….. but it was a shadow of it. Tyr treated Harper as a child… sometimes as his child. Gaheris had respected Dylan too much for that, but there were times he had seen the older man as a beloved younger brother….. one who he was desperate to teach to survive. But in the end it had not been enough – and Dylan…. his Dylan had died by his hand. Gaheris hated the universe for demanding a price so high…. and he hated himself more for hurting the person he had loved more than … everything else in the universe….

That was why he sometimes envied Tyr….. and why he was happy for him: The one Tyr cared for, Harper, was safe….. and now with his life on Infinity, he would remain safe ... More than that, Tyr would never have to hurt him.

Gaheris buried his face in his hands as he remembered why Harper had left. He also knew that Harper had never forgiven him – or Atlanta for what they had done – for saving Harper's life. They all had agreed to destroy the Tesseract Machine but when he got to the Machine shop, the machine seemed ready, Harper was there, it was worth a chance, so instead he activated it while Atlanta disarmed Rekeeb, saving Harper from the Magog larvae, but allowing Hohne to stay dead. Unfortunately the Sinti Council was angry enough with his decision that they withdrew from the Commonwealth followed by most of the other member worlds – and to make things worse, Harper had been apparently very fond of Hohne.

Following the "incident", Harper had chosen to leave the Andromeda, and take up a job-offer from a wealthy computing company on Infinity as their top engineer. He stayed for an additional month to train Atlanta as the new engineer for Andromeda, but would not reconsider staying. Fortunately for Andromeda, Atlanta seemed to have a natural talent for engineering. Unfortunately with a crew so small, the absence of anyone was a severe loss.

With only a crew of two, the only thing possible was repairs, so the giant ship drifted hidden in an Asteroid field for repairs and re-arming, hidden from any would-be agressors, and with no new emergencies arising to engage him, Gaheris found himself feeling more alone than ever. Sure, Atlanta was still onboard, but the company she was always willing to give him could not…. distract him from his loneliness and grief because though she did not know the reasons for its existence, she empathized with him too much.

He appreciated her company, and her love for him. He loved her in return, and was more grateful than words could express when she reached out to him in his grief to give him her love, not caring what it cost her….. when she gave him something to hope for, something to believe in…. when she helped lift the burden of utter loneliness that crushed him. Still, there were times when he was grateful for the rest of his crew that either did not understand his grief or did not empathize much with him, because whether it was Trance's strangeness, Beka's cold sarcasm since breaking up with him, Harper's never-ending self-exaltation, or Tyr's incessant scheming that kept Gaheris wondering when he would be stabbed in the back, all of them gave him something that distracted him from the infinite pain that crushed his tortured soul and ripped into his broken heart, a respite from the memories that haunted his every breath and tormented his dreams…..

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Atlanta approached Gaheris who was standing, staring at the stars, but not really seeing them – not finding peace in their beauty. Instead he was buried in the anguish of a loss only he knew, a loss that had hurt him so deeply it had destroyed his will to live.

Silently she stepped to his right side, pressing her left arm behind his back, and leaning her head against his shoulder and upper chest – just as she always did - and as always, Gaheris gently wrapped his right arm around her, leaning his head on hers, holding close to his heart the closest friend he had now. Yet though her presence was comforting, Gaheris could not entirely hold back the tears that welled up in his eyes, because he knew that by being there for him, she shared his grief….. because she loved him, she was condemning herself to suffer with him his pain.

Tears welled up in Atlanta's eyes – tears for his eternal grief - while she sighed bitterly, for though she loved him, though she would gladly give anything for him: her happiness, her love, even ultimately her life, she knew she could never heal the spiritual agony eating away at his shattered soul and burning into his broken heart. She could be there for him, she could remind him that there was indeed something still worth living for, by giving him her love and accepting his…. she could be there to dry his tears ….. to fight by his side, and even stand in the way of his death…. but it would never be able to take away the pain and loss burning in his heart, the eternal grief that shone from his dark eyes that were like brilliant suns of love drowning in a sea of infinite grief…. because she could not ever give back what he had loved and lost….. whoever they were… and when they died, a part of his heart had been torn out and gone with them, leaving him in eternal agony.

For what seemed like an eternity, they stood in silence, no words needed to express what they felt, their love and grief hanging silently like stars in the silence surrounding them. Finally Gaheris broke the silence, saying quietly in a soft tone laced with grief:

"Why do you do it, Atlanta?"

Though she had an idea what his question meant, she replied with a small sad smile as she raised her head to meet his gaze:

"Do what?"

Gaheris sighed:

"At the end of each day, you could go and do something to relax…. something that could make you laugh, and yet instead of seeking the little peace and happiness you can get…. you come to be with me, to share my….. pain."

Atlanta replied with a truly sad smile:

"Because we're friends, Gaheris…."

Before she could go on, Gaheris replied bitterly, dropping his gaze as tears filled his eyes, and memoriesof another friend long lost rushed into his mind:

"I told you….. being my friend will only bring you grief."

Gently cupping his cheek with one of her hands, Atlanta gently raised his head so that she could meet his gaze and said softly:

"I don't know what happened in your past that hurt you so deeply, I don't understand the source of your pain and your bitterness toward yourself….. but it does not matter, because in this case I know you are wrong; your love is the most precious gift anyone has ever given me. You gave my life meaning….You opened your heart to me, you let me love you, and you loved me in return….And for that, I'd give anything, sacrifice anything, with no regrets… because to me it's worth more than everything."

In a voice choked with tears, Gaheris replied:

" … but it does not change the fact that your being with me brings you pain."

Atlanta gently replied:

"You are my heart, Gaheris….. and the only time I am truly whole is when I'm with you… I want to be with you Gaheris….. I need to be with you."

Gaheris's tears overflowed, but he remained silent….. for what could he say to that?

Any response he could have found was forgotten as Atlanta dried his tears and pulled him into a gentle embrace….. so Gaheris simply wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his heart… because as much as for her sake he wished she was not with him….. in many ways she was all he had left to live for.

When their tears had subsided, Atlanta broke the silence, asking:

"Gaheris?"

Gaheris silently pulled back far enough to meet her gaze, waiting silently for her to continue.

With a slight sigh, Atlanta said:

"For a few days, I've noticed that …. you have something on your mind – beyond what constantly weighs upon you, and beyond strategizing about our next mission….. It's something else

I understand if you don't want to talk about it….. but I think that you do, at least judging from the times it seems like you are about to tell me something, and then you hold yourself back."

Gaheris could not help a small half-smile at her words, still amazed by her ability to read him, and then replied quietly with a sigh of his own, while he turned once more to look at the stars:

"Back when Harper was here, we had discussed the possibility of copying Dylan's personality profile to an AI, a hologram which would look like him….."

Swallowing back silent tears, Gaheris added:

"I told Harper that I was asking for this because I wanted to have a Go partner, and Dylan was good at Go….. Dylan was ….. but the truth is…."

Atlanta finished for him, seeing that Gaheris was fighting to hold back his tears, her own tone soft and sad:

"The truth is … you miss him."

Gaheris nodded, closing his tear-filled eyes:

"It's been almost three years ….. yet every day living without him seems to hurt a little more."

Atlanta nodded, saying gently in a voice choked with tears for his grief:

"I know... you loved him."

In a voice that was broken, and barely audible, Gaheris choked out:

"There's more to the story than that….. I just am not ready to talk about it…. I'm sorry."

Atlanta smiled through her own grief for Gaheris's sake, and said softly:

"It's okay, I can wait….."

For what seemed like an eternity they stood, shrouded in silence heavy with grief, until Atlanta said gently, making a sorry attempt to lighten the mood:

"So why the hesitation?"

Gaheris replied, his voice weary, but glad for the slight shift of topic:

"You are already overworked…. and it is not right to ask this of you, especially now…"

Atlanta smiled slightly, trying to hide her sorrow for his grief behind a fragile smile, and said:

"Actually, I have practically nothing left to do till our next mission. Andromeda's in tip-top shape."

Gaheris raised one eyebrow:

"Already?"

Atlanta mimicked his expression, only she was smiling:

"What can I say, I'm pretty good at this, and Andromeda's a great help…."

Fighting to keep her voice level, she finished, her smile cracking under the weight of the emotion filling her:

"So I'd be happy to do it, knowing what he meant to you….. However, that said, why settle for a hologram? Why not an avatar…. it would be more like having him around again…."

For a fraction of a second she regretted her words, suddenly realizing that having some fragmented version of Dylan around might make Gaheris's pain worse rather than better, but that worry faded away as Gaheris replied, his voice trembling with grief and hope:

"It would be better for him too… You think you can do that?"

Atlanta smiled:

"I believe I can."

Gaheris said, his voice barely a whisper trembling with emotion:

"Thank you."

Pressing her left arm behind his back, Atlanta gently leaned her head on his right shoulder, saying softly:

"That's what friends are for."

Gaheris could not reply, too lost in the memories of how his friend – Dylan had died, and in the emotions, love and grief that flooded his heart, so he wordlessly pulled her close, his own right arm around her shoulders , and for what felt like an eternity, they stood in silence, watching the stars together.

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After Atlanta left, Andromeda's hologram materialized by Gaheris's side, saying in a tone that was unusually gentle:

"Captain….. we need to talk about this."

Gaheris closed his eyes, remembering the grief he had caused her, and realizing that this might hurt her even more, asked in a soft tone that betrayed his grief:

"You're right…. I should have asked you before saying anything….. but it's not too late to call it off. Are you okay with this?"

Andromeda could not help but smile at his concern, albeit sadly, and answered, trying to keep the grief from showing in her soft tone:

"In that sense, yes…. It would be nice to have him back in some form – even as an AI."

Her voice dead serious now, she continued:

"I was not worried about my emotional state… though in truth I am worried about yours."

Gaheris raised a brow, surprised that she understood already how he knew this would affect him, but before he could comment, Andromeda continued, grief coloring her tone once again:

"Time helps to heal the pain of loss…. but only because with time one starts to forget. You have not let yourself forget. You have surrounded yourself with reminders of Dylan, and I know from reading your bio-signs how intense your grief becomes whenever you think of him.

With an android Dylan around that will be the case constantly…. and with no respite from the pain, it could destroy you."

He knew she was right…. he also knew that he wanted this – for Dylan and for Andromeda… he needed Dylan even if the grief killed him in the end, so finally he sighed, resignation coloring his tone:

"It does not matter…."

Andromeda sighed, not surprised by his response, and then said, her voice completely level now, save for the note of concern:

"I suspected you would say as much…. Still, it was not what I was initially referring to."

Gaheris blinked away the tears that had filled his eyes while he drifted in his painful memories, and turned to Andromeda, raising one brow in a 'go ahead' gesture.

Andromeda continued:

"AI's can be dangerous – because of their limitless strength… so we are built with constraints that exist to keep our emotions in check. Even then sometimes they are not enough…"

She sighed as she admitted:

"I was so very close to killing you myself at Hephaestus….. but part of me did not want to – because I knew you were mourning for him too, so I knew that you truly did love him… and because I have always loved you as well. I tried to deny the feeling but I could not completely extinguish it…

But had it not been for these factors, I would have killed you. I would have crushed you through the deck plating… and none of my fail-safes would have been enough to prevent it... You would have never had a chance."

Gaheris looked calmly back at her, a trace of a smile breaking on his lips as he heard her subtle admission that she loved him, her words warming his heart despite her frank admission of what she had nearly done to him, but before he could comment, Andromeda continued, trying to fight back the regret in her tone:

"That is why some of the Commonwealth engineers lobbied for total elimination of emotion from us."

Returning to the present, Andromeda continued:

"Harper is of that mind, believe it or not…. and if he had to create a new AI, he would eliminate emotion entirely.

Atlanta is the polar opposite. She has always insisted that it would be a violation of our rights as sentient beings, that no-one has the right to tamper with our mind – our soul, as it were…..…."

Gaheris heard the warning in her tone as she finished:

"I never thought I would be saying this….. but with Atlanta doing this… it could lead to disaster…. because sooner or later he'll remember that…"

Gaheris finished for her, regret and grief showing clearly in his tone:

"that I killed him….. that I betrayed him."

Andromeda finished:

"And with him being an android….. he could hurt you….. even kill you….. Unless we either eliminate some memories, or ….. limit the emotion he can feel."

For what felt like an eternity, Gaheris was silent, contemplating her words. Then finally he said in a voice that was calm but filled with an almost fatalistic resignation:

"Thank you for your concern, Andromeda….. You do have a valid point…. but I'm guessing that such an …..occurrence is unlikely; revenge never really was in Dylan's nature."

Andromeda replied:

"True…. but emotional trauma is tricky, and death can be a rather traumatic experience…..especially when one is around afterwards to contemplate it."

Gaheris added bitterly, grief burning in his tear-filled eyes:

"And especially when it comes in the form of your best friend – who you trusted with your life."

Andromeda was silent, unable to counter that, even though she wished she could ease his pain.

Finally Gaheris said, his decision made;

"Look, Andromeda, I understand the risks….. Either way, don't make either suggestion to Atlanta….. and don't discuss this with her."

Andromeda asked, certain she already knew the answer:

"Why? You must know this is contra-survival."

Gaheris replied, avoiding a direct answer:

"Most likely, nothing will go wrong… Dylan was a strong person…. a good person."

Andromeda replied, concern in her tone:

"True….. but in the worst case scenario?"

Gaheris sighed:

"I don't know….. I only know I cannot allow us to tamper with his mind – or his personality….I've taken everything from him…. I will not take his soul as well."

Noticing Andromeda' silence, he sighed, his tone weary:

"Please, Andromeda…. promise me you will not start anything."

Reluctantly Andromeda agreed:

"Fine, I promise….. but I still think you might be making a terrible mistake."

Gaheris turned back to the stars saying sadly –more to himself than anyone else:

"Perhaps….. but it can never hold a candle to my first mistake."

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	2. Chapter 2

Title: When Worlds Collide

Author: AstraGalactic

Disclaimer: Andromeda is not mine. If it was, Gaheris would be alive, and Dylan would be with Rommie. Atlanta is mine.

Setting/Season: TUM AU (Trance did not switch places with her gold-self, and the Andromeda has a new engineer)

Summary: The Andromeda's Captain makes a wish, but when he gets it will it destroy them all?

A/N: My thanks to other writers who have inspired me, Please R&R!

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_Ten days later….._

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Within Machine shop seven, Atlanta watched with satisfaction as the boot sequence reached completion, and the Android she built started to show signs of awakening, eyelids fluttering, before opening completely. But as soon as he was fully awake, he left a gasp of pain and fear, and scrambled to his feet, pulling himself into a shadowed corner of the room where he sank to the floor, arms wrapped around his knees, trembling, his eyes shut tight as if in pain – haunted by a memory only he could see.

Atlanta drew closer – not surprised or even particularly concerned by her creation's reaction, considering that the last human memory he had was dying – quickly enough that he could not come to terms with it… but now he had the time – time for the trauma to sink in. She also was confident that he would get over it – that once he dealt with his demons, he would be fine –judging from all the archival footage of him she had seen.

Dropping to one knee by his side, she gently laid one hand on top of one of his, saying comfortingly:

"Calm down, you are safe."

When he opened his eyes to look at her, struggling to calm his breathing, she smiled at him – amazed herself by her success in making him so very human – and repeated in a soothing tone:

"You are safe."

Slowly he relaxed, stretching out his legs, and letting his hands rest in his lap. Seeing this, Atlanta asked in the same gentle tone:

"I need to ask you some basic questions….. may I?"

Dylan nodded absently, and she asked:

"Do you know your name?"

He replied immediately – in a tone that was calm but almost confused by the simplicity of the question:

"Dylan Hunt."

Concerned by the confusion and the edge of fear lingering in his blue eyes as his gaze darted around the room – as if looking for something – but not sure what, Atlanta replaced her hand on his, and asked him:

"Do you know where you are?"

Taking another glance at his surroundings, he replied:

"On the Andromeda…. Machine shop….."

Dylan trailed off, unable to remember the number since he never had paid much attention to the small differences between the machine shops in the past, but added after a final glance around him:

"….. what a mess."

Atlanta could not help but smile at that comment, adding with laughter in her tone:

"Yeah….. it's been worse though."

After all, compared with Harper, she was organized – although she doubted her brand of order matched the Highguard protocol he was used to – she was pretty sure that his comment was mostly influenced by the parts of the room that she had not re-organized since Harper's use of them.

As Dylan started to relax further, and remembering Andromeda…. his Andromeda, he called out softly, almost questioningly:

"Andromeda?"

Atlanta looked up as Andromeda's hologram materialized before them, smiling at the pure joy and love that shone from her eyes as she said to Dylan, reaching out to touch his cheek, immaterial though she was, saying in a voice laced with tears and joy:

"Dylan, It's good to have you back."

Dylan returned her smile, but only for her benefit….. lost in confusion that only grew from her words… hearing in them the meaning that he had been gone….. But what had happened… what could he not remember?

Atlanta said gently to Andromeda, smiling for the ship's obvious happiness:

"Andromeda, why don't you tell Gaheris."

Andromeda disappeared with a nod and a smile, leaving her present third-in-command and former Captain together.

"_Gaheris…."_ The name echoed in Dylan's mind, memories of horror and pain rippling just beyond his conscious reach, shadowing happy memories of a best friend he had once by his side… What was he missing?

Finding his voice – a whisper that showed his incomprehensible fear – he asked:

"Gaheris?"

Atlanta replied comfortingly in the same tone:

"Your friend, Gaheris Rhade….. He's the one who asked for you…."

"_Gaheris Rhade….. Commander Gaheris Rhade…." _echoed in Dylan's mind… Dawn's last words: "Commander?"

Suddenly it all came crashing back to him, one fateful word unlocking the floodgates, releasing the memory that had been hidden by his subconscious – a memory too painful to think about….. but now he could not stop thinking about it…. re-living it over and over again…., and as a pained cry was ripped from his throat, he pressed his hands against the place on his lower abdomen where the plasma rounds had hit him – drowning in the physical and emotional pain…. loosing himself – his dreams and everything he loved in the grief, shock and betrayal….. spiraling deeper into a dark place of wrath and tears that he could not fight against as hard as he tried. Overwhelmed by a bitter, blind… rage as the last light was extinguished.

Atlanta saw his unexplainable reaction, and tried to calm him, as did Andromeda who had returned in her holographic form – but to no avail.

Suddenly he leaped to his feet, only to be stopped by Atlanta who gently but firmly pulled on his arm as she stood, asking:

"Dylan….. what are you doing?"

Dylan replied in a cry of blind rage:

"I am going to kill him!"

Both Atlanta and Andromeda managed only a shocked:

"What?"

Atlanta stepped forward saying in a tone that showed her desperation:

"No, Dylan…. Gaheris loves you…."

Dylan spat back, rage choked with grief:

"Gaheris is the one who killed me…. And I will have my revenge."

With those words he stepped forward once more, blocked by Andromeda's hologram who reached toward him, saying in a voice choked by tears:

"Please don't do this Dylan…..I love you, but in my own way I also love him…. And I know that deep down inside you still do too….."

She continued in a voice trembling with grief:

"Loosing you broke my heart, Dylan….. but it also broke his – it was never what he wanted….. so please don't make me loose one of you….. remember what you feel."

Andromeda's hope died as Dylan replied bitterly, storming through Andromeda's hologram:

"I feel nothing."

Atlanta sighed knowing that without intervention this would end with a death, and said gently to Andromeda:

"Tell Gaheris to stay away."

Andromeda nodded and disappeared once more, while Atlanta drew her forcelance, extending it as she swung it low, hitting Dylan's legs and sending him crashing to the floor, but as he fell, he kicked the extended lance, breaking it in half and pulling her down too.

Recovering, and unwilling to fail, she pulled herself up, throwing herself towards Dylan's back, one outstretched hand reaching for his power switch… but she never made it. As she reached him, he turned around, and too fast for her to reach, threw her away from him, sending her flying out the open door to the machine shop.

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Gaheris walked swiftly towards the Machine shop, having left Command as soon as Andromeda told him that the Dylan replica was complete….. desperate hope and happiness tangling with the burning grief and regret in his broken heart.

He could not slow the nervous fast beating of his heart, even as it ached from his sorrow… For how could he face Dylan again? What would he say to him? Would Dylan be anything like the person he was? …

He was jarred from his thoughts by Andromeda's alarmed voice and the expression on her face as her hologram materialized before him, saying:

"Captain!... Gaheris… Abort your visit to the machine shop"

Gaheris sighed, realization hitting him:

"Something's gone wrong."

Andromeda replied with dead seriousness:

"Yes, very."

Fear ripped through his mind – fear for his friend who was with the android, and in a haunted tone he asked:

"Atlanta?"

Andromeda answered unwillingly, yet unable to lie to him:

"Trying to shut him down."

Gaheris was not surprised…. only terrified that Atlanta would get killed, and he broke into a run, despite Andromeda's protests, headed straight for the Machine shop.

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As Atlanta collided with the wall in the corridor, she felt her lower right leg bones snap from the force of the impact, and both her knee and hip get dislocated…. but remembering the Android who was charging for the door, she hurled the keypad that she had tucked in her pocket earlier – after starting Dylan's boot sequence – hitting precisely the button that would lock the door to the machine shop, automatically triggering a lockdown that could not be opened without her command codes…..

As she heard the crash of the enraged android against the door, she collapsed on her front, overwhelmed by pain… until Gaheris came to her side….. running.

Fear for her was evident in his voice as he dropped to his knees beside Atlanta, gently laying a hand on her shoulder:

"Are you okay?"

Knowing from her heartbeat and breathing that were clearly audible to him that Atlanta was not in danger of dying, he gently turned her over, not surprised when she reached out, leaning on him to pull herself to a sitting position cradled in his arms, and answered between gasps of pain, gesturing with her eyes at her now outstretched right leg:

"Yea…. most of me anyway."

Andromeda's hologram materialized by their side, filling in:

"Two severe fractures and two dislocations….. all in her right leg"

Gaheris sighed, and then said gently but firmly to Atlanta who was now silently leaning against him:

"You're going to Medical."

Atlanta smiled at Gaheris's concern for her, but refused with a frown, glancing up towards the door to the Machine shop:

"Med-deck can wait… that door can hold back an army, but it isn't going to hold him forever."

As if in answer to her words, another deafening crash shook the door and corridor, while Atlanta cringed, and Andromeda frowned, saying in a very worried tone, after consulting her sensors:

"Yea, things are not….. getting any ….. better."

Atlanta knew exactly what that meant, but Gaheris did not – only that there was a hidden meaning that he was not aware of –even though he could guess. But to be certain, he asked Atlanta:

"What is going on?"

Atlanta replied truthfully, but purposefully vaguely, as she reached out and picked up the keypad that had bounced back toward her from the control panel of the door:

"He's got….. issues, and I need to shut him down to fix the problem."

As she spoke, she entered in the codes that would power Dylan down, only to be rewarded with a sound signaling an error from the device in her hands and another deafening crash against the door….. Her worst fears were already coming true.

Forcing upon herself a calm she could not feel – knowing that giving into her fear would get Gaheris killed for certain, Atlanta said, defeat coloring her tone even as she tried the codes again, to no avail:

"Damn….. he's disabled remote access to his system."

Desperate to find a way to stop her creation before he killed Gaheris, she squeezed her eyes shut, fighting to the back of her mind her physical pain, searching desperately all she knew for a solution….

Finally Atlanta found one….. It would be dangerous potentially…..but worth it. Determination filling her tone, she said in a whisper only Gaheris would hear:

"Okay, I can still shut him down, but I have to get to Andromeda's core. He has a connection to her so he can get real-time information….. without having to ask verbally….. I can use that to hack into his system."

Seeing in Gaheris's expression the hesitation – fear for both her and Dylan, she added:

"It will be safe, for both me and him…. but I can't get to the core on my own….. I need your help."

Nodding in acceptance of her decision – though mingled with a good measure of hesitation, Gaheris knelt to lift her into his arms, when suddenly Andromeda's hologram disappeared, the lights in the corridor shut off, replaced only by the dim emergency lighting, and the doors at either end of the corridor shut, trapping them in it.

Gaheris straightened, crouching on only one knee protectively over his wounded friend…. wondering if this was the beginning of an attack, but when none came he relaxed his tense stance, calling out softly:

"Andromeda?"

When no response came, he felt grief rip though his heart… had she been erased? Calling out again in a tone that broke with tears:

"Andromeda?" again elicited no response.

Atlanta realized the cause for his grief – but checking with her keypad told her one positive thing – perhaps the first that day, and she said in a comforting tone laced with an edge of desperation:

"Gaheris, Andromeda is unharmed….. but she's locked down. Passive sensors and surveillance are running, as are environmental controls….. but that is all, she cannot help us."

Desperation welled in her voice as she added:

"I can't override…. whatever he did."

Gaheris sighed in resignation – and also relief, for Andromeda at least:

"His old command codes…. he must have used them."

"_One more mistake…. one more fatal mistake"_ echoed in Atlanta's mind as she closed her eyes once more.

She was running out of options….. even with Gaheris's forcelance set to laser, they would not be able to cut down every door from there to the core….. especially when this whole sector had been reinforced in light of Harper's Nova bomb project…. which left only one choice – one choice that she knew would break Gaheris's heart… total AI erasure of this Dylan.

Fighting back tears, Atlanta decided not to tell Gaheris her plan –knowing only too well that he would not be happy with it, that he may even refuse to go with it….. yet at the same time knowing that by taking this path, she would only intensify his unbearable grief.

Entering a different set of codes on the keypad, Atlanta took a calming breath, trying to keep her voice steady as the computer asked for authorization and she turned the keypad towards Gaheris asking him to enter his command codes.

"… I need you to enter your Command codes."

Gaheris froze at the simple – almost innocent request. He could hear the grief and resignation mingling with the determination in her tone….. and that more than anything stopped him before he did as she asked. He trusted her, and loved her… but he feared her decision… feared it because she had not told him what she was doing, because he knew she would do anything to protect him – and that fact, coupled with the regret in her tone – left only one option…

For it was not a new idea that she thought would work…. there was no satisfaction, pride or hope in her tone….. only sorrow mingled with determination….. This had been an option all along – only one she never wanted to take: Erasing Dylan.

Grief ripped through Gaheris's broken heart and shattered soul at the thought of Dylan - the person he loved dying….. again, and in a voice that broke with tears, he asked – more a statement that a question:

"You're going to erase him?"

Atlanta wanted to deny it….. but could not lie to him, and after what felt like an eternity of silence, she replied – desperation coloring her tone:

"It's the only way…..He's cut off every other option."

Seeing Gaheris's silent reply as he shook his head – and seeing the desperation evident in it, she added:

"He won't be lost forever…. I still have his personality profile, I just have to make some adjustments and then re-install….."

In a voice breaking with sorrow, Gaheris replied:

"But to him, it will be like dying all over again….."

Atlanta sighed:

"I don't know… how an AI perceives erasure."

But Gaheris knew….. he knew when he had seen Andromeda's subtle reaction to the threat of erasure….. the brief flash of fear in the eyes of the strongest person he knew… And he could not do it to Dylan….. he was not able to do it to Andromeda even realizing that she could have been just waiting for the right time to kill him…. Knowing that if she wanted to kill him, he was doomed….

His tone was barely a whisper as he replied:

"I do…"

Reaching out to take his hand, Atlanta said, her voice choked with tears that slowly filled her eyes:

"I don't like it either Gaheris….. But please, I'm begging you. This is my mistake, let me fix it… I can still do this, I can still repair what I did wrong."

With those words, she turned the keypad back toward him, a tiny flicker of sad hope lighting in her heart as he reached toward it…. then suddenly crushed as Gaheris moved faster than she could – even at her best, taking away the keypad from her hands.

As Atlanta reached in desperation toward him, Gaheris slid the keypad into his back pocket, catching both her wrists in his hands and holding them gently but firmly immobile close to his chest, his heart breaking with grief for her as she cried in a voice that shook with the magnitude of her pain and desperation, and her tears overflowed:

"Gaheris…. Don't do this to me, please. Don't make me be the cause of your death."

Gaheris replied gently, reassuring her that she was not – and would never be:

"You cannot b…"

But he was cut off by her sobbed reply as she leaned her forehead against his chest– realizing only after she spoke what she thought he was saying, that she could not be sure of his death:

"I am sure….. He swore to kill you….."

Gaheris pushed her back slightly, meeting her tear-filled eyes with his own that shone like stars drowning in grief, as he asked in a voice that broke under the magnitude of his infinite spiritual pain:

"You know why?"

Atlanta answered through her tears, knowing already from the unbearable sorrow that filled his eyes and shook his soft voice that it was true:

"He said you killed him….. he swore to have revenge."

Gaheris replied in a voice that was barely audible, his eyes closed as he fought back the tears, his broken heart and shattered soul tormented by the memories of Dylan's death that had haunted him for years:

"It's true…. I did kill him….. "

Now it all made sense to her….. now she understood the grief that tore into his heart each moment of each day – grief that he would not let himself heal from….. now she understood why he would not hurt this Dylan…. why he did not mind dying here at Dylan's hands….. He had loved Dylan, though life had forced him to kill him… he still loved him.

Gently reaching up to dry Gaheris's tears, unimpeded by his hands that now only rested on her wrists as long as she did not try to move far, she cupped his cheeks, planting a soft chaste kiss on his forehead as she whispered – her voice strangled by his infinite pain:

"It doesn't matter, Gaheris…. you always loved him."

Forcing back his tears, Gaheris said in a tone that showed only too clearly that his course was fixed:

"Still, this is his justice….. my fate."

Desperately Atlanta replied, knowing she was begging now but unable to care:

"I can't let you die because of me….."

Gaheris pulled her close, pinning her against his chest where she could not pull away to get to the keypad, holding the person he loved close to his heart for one last time as he said in a soft, even calm tone laced with grief:

"It will never be because of you…..It was my mistake then, as it is my decision now…

You have always been there for me – as my friend….. my hope….. I only ask you to do one last thing…. for me."

Pulling back to look into her eyes, Gaheris finished with a truly sad smile:

"Promise me you will not blame yourself for this….. **this** is what I want... "

Planting a chaste soft kiss of his own on her forehead, Gaheris shifted to get to his feet, leaning her against the wall, prevented from moving further by her arms that wrapped around him, refusing to let go, while she sobbed in a broken tone that was barely audible:

"Don't go, Gaheris….. don't….. die….."

Gently Gaheris unwrapped her hands from his arms, looking for one last time into her eyes, whispering through tears of his own:

"I'm sorry."

And then he rose gracefully to his feet, crossing the corridor…. his fingers swiftly flying over the keypad as the entered the codes to unlock the door.

As the door to Machine shop 7 slid open, and Gaheris stepped forward into the darkness that awaited him, walking willingly into the waiting embrace of Death, Atlanta sprang forward, whether to stop him or be inside with him, she was not sure… given strength by her desperation to save the one she loved….

But she fell short of her mark as her injured leg collapsed beneath her, and she crashed to the floor in agony, the Machine shop door sliding closed inches from her reach.

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	3. Chapter 3

Title: When Worlds Collide

Author: AstraGalactic

Disclaimer: Andromeda is not mine. If it was, Gaheris would be alive, and Dylan would be with Rommie. Atlanta is mine.

Setting/Season: TUM AU (Trance did not switch places with her gold-self, and the Andromeda has a new engineer)

Summary: The Andromeda's Captain makes a wish, but when he gets it will it destroy them all?

A/N: My thanks to other writers who have inspired me, Please R&R!

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Gaheris walked into the dimly lit machine shop, a turbulent sea of emotion raging in his heart which ached with every thundering beat, while the memories of Dylan's death by his hands burned anew into his shattered soul.

He knew he would die here…. He knew that this Dylan reincarnated wanted his blood, and he could not blame him for that, nor could he regret that he had come to meet this end – an end that he had longed for since Dylan had died, so great was the magnitude of his grief and regret.

Gaheris smiled, despite the hammering of his heart within his chest, despite the instinctual fear that rippled through his mind as he felt himself being watched…hunted…. because for the little time he had left, he'd have his friend back by his side…. because Dylan was at least in some way alive again, and agonizing as this end would be, Gaheris knew that Dylan would be the last sight that would fill his vision before his eyes closed forever… and to have Dylan back with him…. to have Dylan alive at all…. was worth any price… any sacrifice.

Then his enhanced hearing picked up, from outside the machine shop, the sound of the cover being pried from the electronic keypad…. Atlanta trying to open the door and come to save him… his friend who would do anything… give anything to be there for him. And again the sorrow welled up inside him… his one regret in leaving this life being the pain his death would cause her.

An icy edge of fear ripped through him as he thought of what would happen to her if she succeeded in opening the door, knowing that she was no match for her creation… knowing that she would die.

Then suddenly there was a crash as the reverse of the panel was broken open from the inside, and the wires to the keypad were ripped out. Gaheris's heart beat harder as he realized that Dylan had just locked them in, every fiber of his being screaming at him to try to escape the inevitable Death he could feel stalking him…. Yet the fear was overpowered by the deep sense of calm that stemmed from the knowledge that Atlanta would be safe… that Dylan was not interested in hurting her, despite her love for Gaheris….At least that much about Dylan was the same - he would not hurt the innocent to punish the guilty.

Gaheris took a calming breath, and walked into the center of the machine shop, open to attack from any angle…. waiting.

The first attack came too quickly for his eyes to catch anything except a passing blur, almost like an apparition, but the agony that ripped through his being was too real, as the android's closed fist slammed into his lower right chest with enough force to completely shatter at least half the ribs on that side, driving sharp bone fragments into his right lung, and throwing him across the room where he crashed into a wall, and collapsed to the floor, paralyzed by the agony.

Unable to move, Gaheris lay on his side as he had fallen, his right arm loosely curled around his wounded chest, as violent convulsions of agony ripped through his body and he struggled to breathe through gasps of pain, while he choked on the blood that was welling up into his throat from his torn lung.

Heavy footsteps approached him, and Gaheris struggled to his hands and knees, the agony and trauma overpowered by instinct – the drive to survive, but froze, unable to go the one step further and draw his forcelance… unwilling to try to survive this encounter, as he looked into Dylan's eyes as he approached him.

Beneath the flaming rage in the blue eyes he loved, burned unbearable grief, shock and betrayal – emotions Gaheris knew were fueling the burning rage that was filling Dylan's mind, for he was looking into the eyes of a person who had too much ripped away from them to be the person they once were…. a person who had given all that they had and found that it was not enough to step back from the ledge…. a person who did not even care if he did any longer.

Only then did Gaheris know how deeply Dylan had hurt in those final seconds before his eternal sleep. He had hoped to spare Dylan the pain – both the physical pain and fear of dying …. but more importantly he wanted Dylan to die before he had the chance to fully know the emotional pain of that betrayal… before the implications could fully sink in. It would be Gaheris's spiritual burden for life… he did not want Dylan to have to carry it to his death.

But now here Dylan was, drowning in pain too great to rise from…. shattered by the reality of that betrayal, and Gaheris wanted nothing more than to take away all that pain… somehow, to free Dylan from the anguish that he could see radiating from Dylan's eyes, while the knowledge that he never could heal the sorrow and betrayal that Dylan felt, tore into his broken heart.

It hurt to meet Dylan's gaze, but Gaheris would not look away, even as he was dragged to his feet by one of Dylan's hands that grabbed him by his vest, while the other fist slammed into his unprotected abdomen.

This time Dylan spoke, his enraged tone laced with unspoken pain and shock, while he punctuated each sentence with a punch:

"I loved you…."

"You made me believe that you loved me…"

"And then you took from me my life…"

"…. my family….."

"…..my dreams…."

Each time Dylan's fist slammed into Gaheris's abdomen, bruising the vulnerable organs, his body shook from the unbearable physical pain…. but Dylan's words cut into his heart, each deeper than the previous…. and they hurt more than any wound ever could.

Dylan drew back, releasing Gaheris who struggled to stay standing - even his enhanced physiology unable to compensate for the blood he had lost and the severity of the injuries he had sustained thus far – and then finished in a maddened cry, while delivering a brutal roundhouse kick to Gaheris's abdomen:

"You took everything from me!"

A gasp that was almost a scream of pain was ripped from Gaheris's lungs as he felt the android's booted foot slam into his abdomen, literally ripping multiple organs within him from the force, and throwing him into another wall.

Collapsing on his front, Gaheris lay against the deck, unable to breathe as mouthfuls of blood welled up from inside him, both his torn lung and torn stomach freely bleeding fountains of blood, while he could feel the pulsating agony as the large blood vessels that ran to his liver and had ripped with it spilled life-blood in agonizing spurts into his abdomen.

It hurt too much to move… too much to even try to cough up the blood and take a breath… too much to breathe, so he just lay there, tremors of agony wracking his body, blood streaming from his parted lips, until he was roughly turned over, and dragged to his feet again.

Opening eyes that were tightly shut from the pain, Gaheris forced himself to meet Dylan's gaze, finding the strength to swallow the blood that was welling up in his mouth…. for Dylan's sake.

Dylan's next bitter words shattered his heart utterly, destroying even the instinctual will to live:

"Were you just using me? Getting close to me just so you could kill me?"

He hurled Gaheris into one of Harper's machines, hundreds of glass and metal shards created by the impact leaving deep gashes all over the Nietzschean's wounded body, advancing again on the man who had no longer the strength or will to move, saying:

"Or did you really try…but could not love, because you are Nietzschean?"

As Dylan's words ripped into Gaheris's tortured soul, Gaheris felt the Android's fingers wrap around the lowest boneblade on his right arm, pulling it slowly forward past the point of agony, then suddenly yanking hard, ripping the boneblade out, and hurling Gaheris through the air, back towards the door.

Fire-like pain raced through his nervous system, overwhelming all of his other wounds with the sheer burning agony, but his voice had become as silent as his will to live…. Gaheris could not find the will to scream, so after he crashed to the deck, laying on his back, his broken body convulsing with agony and shivering from the cold, the only sound to be heard was his ragged shallow gasps of sheer agony, choked with his own blood.

Tears filled his eyes as he heard Dylan's voice again, no longer yelling, only laced with rage fueled by bitterness:

"When you betrayed me, you ripped my heart out…."

"….. Maybe you should have the same end." With these words, he pulled Gaheris up again facing him, pinning him bodily against the door to the machine shop, his left hand locking Gaheris's shoulder to the door, his right hand pressed against Gaheris's chest, with only the tips of his curved fingers touching the Nietzschean's flesh…. forming a circle around his heart.

Gaheris knew his fate from the first moment Dylan had spoken… but it did not make the ensuing agony any easier to bear, as the very slowly building force of Dylan's hand forced the breath from his lungs, then crushed his ribs and sternum, driving bone fragments into his beating heart.

Unbearable agony laced through him with every heartbeat as each beat created another tear from the sharp bone fragments. His heart pounded faster like a trapped wild bird in a cage that was closing in on it…. And yet he stayed silent and still – save for the fact his body was shaking from the unbearable pain – his eyes open and staring sightlessly at Dylan, his lips parted even though he was unable to breathe.

When Dylan spoke again, his tone was more a cry of angry grief than anything: "Did you ever feel **anything** real for me?"

In his mind, Gaheris said sadly:  
"More than you will ever know, Dylan…."

But he remained silent, telling himself that if he tried to speak now, there would be no stopping the screams of pain… but knowing deep down inside that there was only one reason: he did not want to hear the proof that it would not matter anyway…. so he remained silent and still.

But when Dylan's fingers ripped through his flesh, tearing through skin, muscle and bone, and wrapping around his beating heart, he could not control the violent tremor that shook his body, and the breathless strangled cry of pain that burst from deep in his throat. His head slammed against the door hard enough that blood started to run from his nose, but the pain was dwarfed by the unbearable agony everywhere in his body – and worst of all in his heart.

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Atlanta realized before long that the control panel had been disabled – as had Andromeda. Unarmed, and unable to call for help or even get an explosive to blow the door, she struggled to her feet, her body pressed against the door listening to the chaos inside, while weeping for the cruel death she could do nothing to prevent.

Most of the time she had no idea what was happening – only that Gaheris was being hurt badly… but she knew when Gaheris had been slammed against the door and pinned there, and she reached out, hands pressed against the cold metal…. knowing Gaheris was literally only a few inches away, being tortured to death, and yet separated from her ability to help by a universe, for all the good it did him.

Each second her heart broke. She could feel his pain. But when she heard his head slam against the door, she knew it was a convulsion of agony that had done that, and she could no longer stay silent. Amidst her endless tears, she threw her head back, and called her friend's name in a voice that was a scream of pure spiritual pain and desperation:

"Gaheris!"

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Gaheris's eyes had closed tight from the unbearable agony, but snapped open as he heard Atlanta's voice through the door. Even with the soundproofing, his enhanced ears could hear the tears in her voice, but more than that it was the utter loss and desperation in it that touched his broken heart. He had heard her sad, angry, afraid… hopeless. He had even heard the one time physical pain had momentarily shattered her self control and she left a scream of pure physical pain…. But none of it could hold a candle to the sheer spiritual agony that her voice carried in it as she called for him.

His death would destroy her… it would kill her soul as it killed his body.

Atlanta loved him, even with this newest revelation… She **loved** him…..

Gaheris felt a new light flicker to life in his soul –one reason worth living for …her love, and for the first time, he considered using his forcelance to fight - and seize the rapidly diminishing chances he had to survive.

He knew that in his weakened state he would only have one chance - one shot, but one shot was all it would take... one full-power plasma round delivered to Dylan's power-core would be instantly lethal. This Dylan would die before even having the chance to register the damage - or retaliate...

But could he bring himself to do it... again?

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A/N: What do you think will happen next?


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